2,371 people abducted in Nigeria in first half of 2021

[Charles-Tim]

I read this news yesterday but I was tired I couldn't post it in time. I was not even surprised to have read about this yesterday because I have read about many of these abduction in the past. Some people were kidnapped by Boko Haram, some by bandits while some were kidnapped by normal kidnappers. Kidnapping in Nigeria has been turned into a job now to the extent even Kings were among people that were abducted. Some celebrities like the formal president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has once said money should not be paid to terrorists (Boko Haram) and bandits because of obvious reasons that is not the focus of this thread.

After the abduction, especially bandits and normal kidnappers, it will be less than a day or two days they will demand for ransom. It is not common that bandits will enter girl schools and abduct some of the students and demand for ransom, while also kings were abducted.

The Central Bank of Nigeria present said before that cryptocurrencies are illegitimate, some even will say Bitcoin is demanded for in many cases by such attackers for ransom. But in the case of Nigeria, this is different. Although, fiat can be traceable, but it is only when it is in digital form, not traceable in p2p physical exchange it transfer. The attackers know about this, they will likely prefer to collect their money in Nigerian Naira and yet in cash.

I believe non has used Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies to demand for ransom that was known, because if Bitcoin or any other crypto was demand for as random, Nigerian government would have taken this to news. The government do not speak bad of fiat which resulted to ransom by bandits but if Bitcoin or crypto is demanded for, it would have been included in the news by now.

https://punchng.com/2371-people-abducted-in-nigeria-in-first-half-of-2021-report/

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[zanezane]

I think the reason why the kidnap for ransom groups haven't used bitcoin or any cryptocurrencies as a means of ransom is probably they need to quickly spend the cash or they want to do it physically rather than electronically because they are scared of getting tracked. Plus you said that there's Boko Haram too, meaning that they are probably looking for fiat as a ransom because their supplier for guns or something that they use for their terrorist activities is asking for fiat which is what they were accustomed to plus fiat is much more anonymous because there are proven ways to clean it and it can't really be tracked electronically.

[Lorence.xD]

I am curious about the Kings that you are talking about, are there royalties in Nigeria? I think that the only scary thing about here is the kidnapping itself and not the fact that they aren't using cryptocurrencies for payments in the ransom.

[Wexnident]

I'd definitely ask for fiat instead of digital currency or crypto in this case. Digital currency is traceable after all, since the system itself is pretty centralized, while in crypto, there'd still be chances where the wallets they'd use would be blacklisted no? Idk if mixers don't allow or even take note of blacklisted wallets, but hey it's an idea. Fiat on the other hand, hard cold cash, leaves no trace at all which makes it a lot easier for them to cover up their tracks.

[Charles-Tim]

I am curious about the Kings that you are talking about, are there royalties in Nigeria?

Yes, there are many kings in Nigeria, but they are stronger than one another in power and influence. The last king that was abducted that I read about was not even quite long, the king of Kajuru.

---Snipped---

What I am thinking is that many of these bad actors do not even know much about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and they know that collecting money physically can be an easy means no government or anybody can be able to track the payment. The payment that can be completely annonymous is physical payment of fiat which is an effective tools many bad actors are using.

[Twinkledoe]

I am curious about the Kings that you are talking about, are there royalties in Nigeria?

Yes, there are many kings in Nigeria, but they are stronger than one another in power and influence. The last king that was abducted that I read about was not even quite long, the king of Kajuru.

---Snipped---

What I am thinking is that many of these bad actors do not even know much about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and they know that collecting money physically can be an easy means no government or anybody can be able to track the payment. The payment that can be completely annonymous is physical payment of fiat which is an effective tools many bad actors are using.

I think, sooner or later, these kidnappers will learn how to use crypto and they will use it in these illegal activities. Privacy coins like monero may be one of their first choices in case they learn how to transact using crypto. I guess, the reason why crypto is still out of their options because they need someone to understand how crypto works, where no one can trace their transactions. Once they get acquainted with crypto, for sure, they will try to use it with this extortion.

[Charles-Tim]

---Snipped---

Well, this is true, especially for annonymous currencies like Monero, but let us now focus this on Bitcoin. Bitcoin's blockchain is completely transparent and available to the public, many malacious transactions were tracked while many have been recovered. Abductors will not later like to make use of Bitcoin because of the transparent design. This makes me to think Bitcoin will only later result to abductors not to use it because of its transparent blockchain which physical fiat (cash) can not provide.

[20kevin20]

Between cash, gold, Bitcoin and Monero I think the first two are always going to be their currency of choice due to their physical existence. No matter how private one blockchain or another is, there is always the risk that the chain will be analyzed and privacy will dissolve through some flaws nobody has any idea about yet. I think it's time to finally understand that Bitcoin/Monero/cryptos in general aren't equal to terrorism or financial crimes.

Bitcoin's transparency is great in this case where bad actors are being revealed and tracked down, but the worst part is that if someone who tries to hide their tracks can be tracked down then almost any of us can be as well.

[Pokapoka124]

I am curious about the Kings that you are talking about, are there royalties in Nigeria?.

Yes they are Kings in Nigeria. Nigeria is a diverse with different culture and tribes coming together to form a nation. Every tribe has a King or supreme ruler even though there is a political governor that handles the affairs of the state. Over time because of politics, majority of kings have little power.

I think that the only scary thing about here is the kidnapping itself and not the fact that they aren't using cryptocurrencies for payments in the ransom

The level of insecurity sweeping across the country is alarming. The government need to swing into action to fight insurgency and crime. I don't think I have heard of ransom being paid in crypto yet but we might see that happening soon

[qwertyup23]

Between cash, gold, Bitcoin and Monero I think the first two are always going to be their currency of choice due to their physical existence. No matter how private one blockchain or another is, there is always the risk that the chain will be analyzed and privacy will dissolve through some flaws nobody has any idea about yet. I think it's time to finally understand that Bitcoin/Monero/cryptos in general aren't equal to terrorism or financial crimes.

Bitcoin's transparency is great in this case where bad actors are being revealed and tracked down, but the worst part is that if someone who tries to hide their tracks can be tracked down then almost any of us can be as well.

This is definitely true.

These abductors will demand physical cash as much as possible since they will not risk anything that can potentially infiltrate their location. Cash, on the other hand, is very liquid. One thing that I learned that anything that exist within the realms of the internet has the potential of knowing your location. Although difficult, there is that possibility that there are risk associated with online transactions that could leak their location.

[Lorence.xD]

~

Yes, there are many kings in Nigeria, but they are stronger than one another in power and influence. The last king that was abducted that I read about was not even quite long, the king of Kajuru.

Oh, so basically these Kings are like tribe leaders of some sort or are they different? Because I find it hard to believe that a nation has a lot of kings. How are these kidnapped people though, did they all come back safe or some of them have been killed?

[Potato Chips]

Sad to say, bitcoin has been asked as a ransom before in Nigeria

Dr Umar Ardo, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he paid around N5.4 million ($15,000) in bitcoins to kidnappers who abducted his daughter, Aisha.

and this is most likely not the first and last considering not everything gets reported but there's nothing surprising about this cause any currency (or anything that has a monetary value) is bound to get involved in illegal activities.

[clint25n]

this is very inhumane what the criminal did with his crime, then the police must immediately intervene to solve the problem, because this should not happen in any country including Nigeria, then they must be as fast as possible to catch the perpetrators so that they can be punished according to the rules in force in the country, what's more, this is a major crime and can cause the loss of human life

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

this is very inhumane what the criminal did with his crime, then the police must immediately intervene to solve the problem, because this should not happen in any country including Nigeria, then they must be as fast as possible to catch the perpetrators so that they can be punished according to the rules in force in the country, what's more, this is a major crime and can cause the loss of human life

The police wants to intervene but the problem is that this kidnap for ransom group are armed to the teeth meaning that if they were to fight back, it will get bloody and people that was the hostage will be killed defeating the purpose of rescuing the kidnapped people. It's indeed inhuman but we have to address other problems too, which is the poverty that leads to this people from doing this and the security of the places.

[leea-1334]

What is really important to note here is that this happenings in Nigeria are NOT because Bitcoin was available. Again this is a convenient ignoring of the root cause of problems, and existing threats.

Just like Israel says Bitcoin is helping Hamas. All these groups existed before and thanks to evils in the past of the government oppressing people,,, and now Bitcoin the evil? This distracts from the real picture.

[semobo]

I can understand two things which made Nigeria to put such circumstances, the important one is their security system so called police or anything in that place is getting poorer so the crimes are increasing and even it becomes a normal job for someone when there is no money in their hands for survival. The next one is unemployment is letting the people to do extreme inhumane things like that no matter whether the kidnapped person is a common school girl or Former President.

Nigeria already banned the cryptocurrency because they said illegal activities are increasing due to the usage of bitcoin now where they will go and hide from this even after the ban?

[Igebotz]

What is really important to note here is that this happenings in Nigeria are NOT because Bitcoin was available.

For record purpose Nigeria government did not ban cryptocurrency because of terrorism, the main purpose of the ban was to protect the NGN fiat and the banking system.

this is very inhumane what the criminal did with his crime, then the police must immediately intervene to solve the problem.

We do not operate state policing we only have federal police, they take orders from the federal government, now tell me how do you expect the police to fully function when the people in charge of the police sector are the same people sponsoring the terrorism? Highly respected Iman are being used as the third party between the government and the terrorist, they collect the ransom from the government and pay it to the kidnappers. The problem is not the police but the system. The current government has failed the people that's just the simple term, bad government is just everywhere not only in Nigeria.

[ARTURVH]

So many kidnappings in Nigeria have a lot to do with the political environment of this country. Whether cash or bitcoin is used as a ransom, it is used by terrorists as a demand for cash. Bitcoin cannot be vilified because of this form of ransom.

[Kontibruno]

I guess that the Nigerian government's problem with cryptocurrency is not really about kidnappers and bandits demanding the payment of a ransom in crypto. They may be using that as an excuse to justify their reason for trying to shut it down.

However, the main reason is that many people used crypto to contribute to the funding of the demonstration against police brutality in October of 2020. The Nigerian government was able to trace and block the bank account of those that used fiat to make their contribution. On the other hand, they could not trace or block the wallets of those that used bitcoin to contribute.